Stages
by UnsupervisedDream
Summary: Kiara has to come to terms with the fact that her life will never be the same again. Or, An Explorers of Sky fic that centers around the partner in the paralyzed future. Contains spoilers!


It's all a dream, and Kiara was going to wake up. Totally, right now. Tot...ally.

It was so cold, and the small Vulpix couldn't coax her body to warm up. So cold, contrary to her warm orange fur. The only thing that could be done was to grit her teeth and bear it until she was back, safe in her guild room, in her warm nest. All she had to do was figure out how to wake.

She held her gaze straight ahead like a statue, boring into and beyond the wall opposite of her, through the bars of her jail cell.

Luna wasn't awake yet.

But Kiara didn't have to worry, because this was all a dream.

Kiara glances down at her fluffy red paws, going numb against the cold, uneven stone floor. The icy claws of Articuno dragged themselves up and down her legs and caused her chest to flutter with each heartbeat. The floor likely hasn't seen warmth or the sun's light in decades. Not that it matters. None of this is real.

It's all fake, and she will wake up any moment now. An urge builds up in her, to do something, to release, to be released. She licks her teeth unconsciously, gaze slowly sweeping the stone room left to right, up and down.

Kiara bites down on her paw. She can feel her canines, pointed and polished, but her paw is too numb to feel pain. She plunges her teeth down harder to reaffirm that this wasn't real. No.

 _No_! Kiara thought furiously. Pain shot through her paw, up her leg and into her spine. Her whole body throbbed with terror. This isn't real, this isn't real. It's not.

Her anguished scream didn't wake Luna. The next one didn't either.

No one told her to be quiet. A strange, weak flicker of rebellion awoke within her.

Kiara screeched again, and no one shut her up.

A-ha. Yes. This isn't real, and this is proof. She was satisfied.

The stranded cough she made as she cleared her throat definitely didn't hurt.

It was quiet, except for the wind and the sound of Luna gently breathing, still unconscious.

When Luna does wake up, the eevee seems adamant on escaping their prison room before Dusknoir does something with them. Kiara laughs emptily. An odd sensation fills her body, like sand filling and hourglass.

Illusions, she decides, are further proof that she will wake up from this dream. Her imagination is working, and it'll turn lucid eventually.

The door to their jail cell opens with a sickening groan, and they are hoisted away by Sableye down a long corridor. If Kiara doesn't fight it she'll be put out of her misery soon and be out of this nightmare.

Luna strains in the death grip of the Sableye, twisting her body to get a good look at Kiara. Luna's eyes flash with an emotion Kiara can't quite place, for only a moment.

Luna's face contorts, an expression of worry for Kiara and herself. But mostly for Kiara. The top of the hourglass is running out of sand.

The hallway suddenly feels wider, as if the walls had melted away. Ahead of them three yellow lights turn on, revealing three white columns.

The Sableye force them back-first against cold, white marble columns in the center of a dark room, with unknown boundaries. It was unclear whether the columns were truthfully in the center of the room, or where the corridor they came through ended and this room began. The marble was even icier than the floor of the cell.

The Sableye have rope in their claws, and begin to wrap it around Kiara's abdomen.

Luna fights the Sableye, biting and clawing, but her teeth and nails slide off uselessly against the smooth gemstone eyes and purple scales. Luna is gagged and then her paws are bound to make the process of being tied easier. Kiara lets them have her with open arms, wondering why Luna doesn't do the same.

A third figure appears, larger than the two of them and pressing himself against the marble, letting himself be taken in a manner similar to herself, but with a strange sense of purpose. As if he actually cared. Grovyle. Of course that outlaw would be here. A dirty, filthy, good-for-nothing little-

She had been speaking out loud.

Agitated suddenly, she shut her mouth.

Grovyle ignored her.

Luna glares at her above her gag, but it soon softens into something teary-eyed. Kiara can see her trying to form words but they come out muffled and incomprehensible.

Kiara knows what she's trying to say.

"This is real life," Kiara says, shockingly devoid of emotion despite the emotions in her threatening to spill over. Luna manages to nod.

Kiara cries.

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 **A/N: Please give me feedback. It nourishes my being.**


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